Risky Business
by LoverDreamerFighter
Summary: Sent of the island of Berk to live with her father's people at a young age, Alyssa is sent to Berk to and decieves the villagers so the Outcasts can reclaim their place as the most-feared Vikings in the land but what happens when she remembers an old friend?
1. Only the Beginning

**Okay, some of you may know Alyssa from my other HTTYD stories but in this one, it's an alternate reality where at a young age, she was sent off Berk in a diabolical plan to be trained as a killer on Outcast Island by her father then sent back when she becomes older to deceive the others and destroy them from the inside. What will happen? There's only one way to find out.**

**If you know her from my other stories then you'll notice that she'll be slightly OOC.**

* * *

"You can't stay here. Not on Berk, not anymore." Slade, my blood-related father had told me when I was still rather young. "There's a boat behind Thor's beach, there's a large crew of Vikings there. They'll take you away from here. You leave tonight, no good-byes."

I knew better than to question why. I was going to miss my only dear friend, though I've only known him for over a month surely but I'm also sure that he'll do fine on his own. I mean, he may not look it but he's strong. Stonger than most people think.

I don't remember his face, his hair, his body or even his name. I only remember the look that was permanantly in his eyes. They were always so hurt-looking, empty and lonely. His eyes were very beautiful, though, I don't care what anyone else says. I can't help but wonder about him from time to time.

"Now, get out of my sight. Hurry up and go." He gave a harsh shove to my back and it forced me to the door. I looked around hesitantly then walked out.

It was very dark, very lonesome, but not at all terrifying. The forest that I had to walk through to get to Thor's beach, it wasn't scary either. I squinted a bit to see better since not too much moonlight reached through the thick trees of the forest and almost before I knew it, I was at Thor's beach with many large Vikings that didn't give off a friendly presence.

"Ah, there ya are." The largest one, the leader I presume said. "You must be Hudson. Allow me to introduce myself; I am Alvin the Treachourous, a good friend of your dad's."

I didn't speak, I wasn't given permission.

"Odin's ghost, Slade wasn't lying. You really can be quiet." Alvin pointed. "You have free permission to speak as long as you're with us, as long as what you have to say is important."

"Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir." I bowed courtiously.

"My, my. Your manners, child!" He put his hands on his hips and the sudden boom of his voice made me draw myself into my shoulders. "Don't worry about a thing, just get on the boat."

I gulped and did as I was told, I got on the boat then Alvin used a hand to force me to sit down on a bench. "A-Alvin, s-sir?" He looked back at me. "What's going to happen?"

"Well, we have quiet a few plans for you." He laughed.

"Huh?"

"You'll find out when we get back to our island, also known as your new home."

That was years ago, almost a lifetime ago. It has been a little over five years but the time has gone by so slowly.

Outcast Island must be one of the most terrible places to live. I can't count how many times I've gotten sick from all of the food and dirty water, the health care isn't exactly the best either. Any little thing you do wrong can and _will_ get you harmed.

I've been trained my whole life here to kill Stoic the Vast. How exactly would a child like me do that? Well, you'll find out soon enough if all goes as planned.

Not too long ago, they attacked the Berkians to search for the dragon conqueror but he had gotten away on the back of a Night Fury dragon with half a tail and another Night Fury that followed behind him and attacked without much thought and no hesitation. Well, that's what I heard anyway.

I've been sent in to battle dragons before but I've never laid a finger on them and surprisingly, they didn't harm me either. The first dragon I'd ever faced off with was a Deadly Nadder, not so deadly after all. It was harmless.

Each dragon that was sent after me to fight, never attacked. I guess that I wasn't much of a threat. I never understood why I should hurt dragons, that's just wasn't for me. I know that I'm not like the others and proud of it, I never asked to be one of them. Though I won't say this aloud around any Outcasts, I believe that dragons may not be as dangerous as they seem.

I've never killed a dragon before so I don't know how I'll be able to kill Stoic the Vast. Other Outcasts and I were forced to battle but each time that I had them cornered, I'd pull back and set them free and earn myself a whip to the back for being so spineless.

But that doesn't really matter now, I've just finished talking with Alvin about my important mission. It went a little something like this:

I walked into the great hall and approached Alvin, "Alvin, sir? You asked to speak to me, I believe." I stood up straight in front of him and watched his every move just as I always do.

"Ah, there's me little girl." He stood up with hand gestures that motioned for me to step forward a bit. "It's time for our little talk about your mission, it's time." He finished saying that and other Outcasts began to watch us intently. "So tell me, what have I taught you?"

"Berkians are the enemy, they've defeated the Outcasts and must reclaim our rightful place at the top." I responded with no emotion.

"Yes, and who is your target?"

"Stoic the Vast, leader and chief of the Hairy Hooligans. And his son, Hiccup the Useless."

"And what must you _do_?!" He asked; more than manical.

"I must _kill_ Stoic and capture Hiccup." I answered coldly. "Eat the heart of the chief to gain his strength. Leave _nothing _behind."

The Outcasts cheered loudly and it echoed off the stone walls of the great hall and boomed all throughout the area. Alvin gave a loud and hearty cackle as he roughly shoved on my shoulder to send me away.

Savage put a hand over my shoulder as we walked for the door, "There's a boat out at the docks waiting for you. Just cut the rope and it'll send you off straight for Berk."

"Don't worry about it." I smirked. "If this all goes according to plan, in just a couple of weeks, we'll be up to our chins in Berkian slaves and trained dragons."

I got myself settled into the boat, cut the rope and sat back patiently as I drifted away from the area. I could still hear the uproarious laughter of the Outcasts on the shore as I drifted away and also a few last words as I departed.

"You better not screw this up!"

"Stay focused!"

"Give 'em the old Blood Eagle!"

"If you fail, we'll have you killed!" Were Alvin's last words to me.

I knew that what he had just told me wasn't a joke, it never was. I only prayed to each and every god and goddess I could think of, this was my only chance to do something right. My first and _only_ chance, because as Alvin already said, if I fail, I will be killed. No second chances.

"Berk is straight ahead." I said to myself into the dark night. "Well, here goes nothing." The boat pulled up to the empty docks and I saw no one around, just like the night that I had left. I climbed off the boat and onto the dock, I stared all around for anything strange and already knew where I'd have to go first, Slade's house.

I walked through the quiet village and stared curiously at the sleeping dragons all across town, some rested next to buildings, inside of their own custom made homes, and not a single one was alarmed by my presence, awake or asleep.

I passed by the largest home in the village, the chief's household. Something familiar about it itched in the back of my mind and no matter how hard I tried to shake it away, it didn't leave. Why did I get a weird feeling from it?

I decided to ponder on that later and continued onto Slade's home. I approached the door and before I could open it myself, it opened from the inside. I narrowed my eyes and entered, then Slade stood behind the door and glared down at me.

"So the time's finally come." He said boredly.

"Indeed it has." I nodded. "You have a pet dragon of your own? Alvin didn't send you here for nothing."

"No, I don't. None of these mongrels are good enough for me and even if I wanted to, none of them like or even tolerate me."

"Gee, I wonder why." I stretched out a bit and felt a blow to my shoulder. "Oh, the housewarming gift." I ignored it for the most part with a soft laugh. "I nearly forgot about that."

"The dragons are much too foolish and disasterous to be trained. All a delusion so they can destroy us from the inside."

"Once again, I wonder why." I sighed and ducked to avoid a slap. On Outcast Island, you become a fast learner whether you want to or not. "So, I just have to get close to the boy and the closer I get to him, the closer I get to Stoic."

"The closer you get to Stoic, the nearer our victory becomes." He cackled. "For now, stay out of my house. I can't let them know you're here." I began to walk off and he followed it up with "And for Thor's sake, wash yourself, you stink like a blacksmith's underarms!" The door slammed behind me.

"You don't exactly smell like a basket of roses either." I muttered. Besides, he knows that on Outcast Island, there is hardly any way to clean yourself in all of the gruel there.

Anyway, I smirked towards the starry sky and let out a somewhat deranged and quiet laugh, "Home, sweet home." I said sinisterly.


	2. It's You

**BloodBendingDacner: Thank you!**

* * *

So, I took Slade's advice to heart. I went out and cleaned myself up near Thor's beach but thanks to the high rocky walls that surrounded the area, I doubt that anyone saw unless they flew overhead on their dragon but there was no dragons that flew overhead.

I no longer looked like an Outcast but I looked like someone familiar but that was only in the eyes. They looked like my old friend's, this place felt like it was a real home to me unlike Outcast Island. I was able to convince myself that it was only due to my surrounding area and my new appearance that made me feel like this.

My gray-ish brown, mud-clad hair was cleaned up and became a bright and shining golden brown color. My face was cleaned up with no dirt marks, my clothes were a bit tattered but they looked clean, just like I'd been on the run for a while.

I sat back and thought to myself for a moment. If a stranger shows up on Berk, they'll need a story as to why they're there. What would mine be? I need something that will get me close to the Berkians.

Was I kidnapped? If so, then how was I able to escape? Would I have to go into detail?

Where is my island? Which tribe am I from? Do I even need an alter-ego?

No, I can tell them the half-truth. Darn my honesty. You think that growing up on Outcast Island that I would be a sneaky, dirty little liar but I'm not. That's what got me outcast. That's right; I'm an outcast Outcast. It's not easy, I can tell you that much.

Okay, the half-truth. Hm, sounds good enough. Wait, isn't that what that Heather girl did? That got her into a lot of trouble but then again, she wasn't exactly the best spy. Whatever, I'm going with the half-truth.

I began to walk through the forest and kicked a pinecone along the pathway. I had no weapons, no food, nothing. I gave thought on how I should kill the chief and scratched my head as I continued walking.

Should I kill him in his sleep? If so, how do I get into his house? Could I train a dragon and have it do it for me? Do I lure him somewhere and ambush him?

How do I capture the Hiccup? A lure? A rope snare? Then how do I take care of those dragons Alvin said he has?

They never told me _how_ to kill Stoic, they just told me to do it. They never told me how to catch Hiccup either. Ugh, why do they have to make everything so complicated?

All of the over-thinking and thoughts that ran through my head made me frustrated. I gave a hard kick to the pinecone that sent it flying through a tree. There was the growl of a dragon then fire quickly began to spread through the trees. So, in other words, I just angered a Monstrous Nightmare.

_Great._

"Oh, crap. I really did it this time." I said. I turned and ran for the beach, I hoped to make it out alive but with how fast the fire spread through a few of the dying trees, I doubted it. A flaming tree fell in front of me, I tumbled back and looked around for an escape.

I'm too independant to call out for help so I pursed my lips and thought about running through the fire but that was just stupid. It was already getting hard to breathe, the fire had me surrounded. I coughed heavily from the smoke that invaded my lungs.

I began to clench my eyes shut since they were watering from the stinging smoke. I was sweating heavily but there wasn't much that I could do. I was trapped.

I began to feel faint. Then that's exactly what happened, I fainted.

* * *

"How many times do we have to tell you guys that we didn't throw it?"

"Doesn't really matter now, Tuffnut, we have to put this fire out!" A blonde on a Deadly Nadder said.

"Come on, gang. We have to take care of this." A one-legged boy said.

They flew over the flaming trees but the full-tailed Night Fury that trailed behind the said boy, looked into the flaming trees and hovered there for a moment.

"Shadow, what is it?" He asked and turned his half-tailed dragon around. The full-tailed dragon dove into the flames after slight hesitation. "What are you doing, bud?" He called out.

The dragon came back up and held a girl in his forepaws by her upper-arms. She was unconsious and there was some ash scattered over her body.

"Quickly, get her out and keep her safe." He said. The dragon obeyed and took her away from the blazing trees, he brought her out to a dirt covered area that wasn't far from the trees. He watched as his trainer flew over the trees and dropped water on them but it really wasn't any use, a lot of those trees were long gone.

Luckily, though, the fire ended up dying down after burning some of the trees turned to ash. The remaining embers and whatnot were put out soon enough then the group descended from the air and looked down at the girl that Shadow had rescued from the fire.

"Is she breathing?" The large one on a Gronckle asked.

"I think so." The blonde Nadder owner said.

The one-legged boy knelt and shook her shoulder, "Hey, are you okay?" No response. He shook slightly harder. "Excuse me, are you alright?"

* * *

My eyelids fluttered open and I stared directly into the bright sky then regretted it. I groaned and quickly covered my eyes. "Ow, ow, ow." I whined then when I was sure that I was no longer looking to the sky, I slowly opened them and looked around.

A group of six and their dragons surrounded me. All young teens about my age. There were two long-haired pale blonde twins that were a boy and a girl, a buff boy, a large boy, a bright blonde-haired girl then there was the one that was closest to me.

He had reddish-brown hair, some freckles and he was very thin. Like a Hiccup.

Wait a minute, like a Hiccup!

Found him. Well, uh, from the looks of it, him and his group found me.

The dragons around us were a Monstrous Nightmare, a Hideous Zippleback, a Deadly Nadder, a Gronckle and two Night Furies. One had a prosthetic tail, the other that sat close to me seemed very focused on what was going on and kept himself fixated on me a bit skeptically.

"Pardon but how did I survive the fire?" I asked but didn't make eye contact with anyone. I'm not good with meeting new people especially after being shut in on Outcast Island for so long.

"Oh, my dragon Shadow," The Hiccup gestured to the Night Fury next to me. "He must have saw you in the fire and pulled you out. He saved your life."

"Ah. Well, thank you, Shadow." I said quickly then sat up, I shook my head from slight dizziness then looked around at all of them. "So, who are you all?"

The Hiccup began. "I would be-"

The buff boy cut him off. "I'm Snotlout Jorgenson. I have _never_ lost the Thawfest games before."

Oh. It's you. I remember you, you little jerk.

I rose my brows with mock amusement at him. "Oh, you did now, did you?" I asked and folded my arms after I stood up.

"Yep, you bet." He wiggled his thick brows.

"Um, no." I said flatly. "I'm not interested." The twins in the back laughed and diverted my attention from Snotlout. "Who might you be?"

"I'm Tuffnut, this is my sister, Ruffnut but she's not important." The boy said. His sister slapped him in the back of his head. "Ow!"

Oh, dear Thor. _Them_?

"Okay?" I rose a brow in slight confusion mixed with amusement.

"Fishlegs Ingerman." The large one tipped his Viking helmet like a hat.

I can't say anything about you. You never really did anything wrong as far as I know.

I nodded at Fishlegs, the blonde girl glared at me.

"Oh, man. What did I already do?" I asked her. She didn't say anything, she kept glaring me down and pursed her lips. "Nice to meet you too."

Wait a minute, I remember her! Astrid Hofferson. I never did like her.

"I would be Hiccup." The Hiccup finally said.

"Figures." I muttered. He rose his brows at how rude I had gotten in that single second. I looked at him and quickly said "Sorry about that. I'm not the best with meeting new people and you guys have dragons so I feel intimidated and when I'm intimidated I get mean and when I get mean then no one likes me." I took a breath in to continue speaking. "But that's not really how I am. I don't really know how I'm supposed to be. I never really amounted to much so what the heck am I?" I shrugged slowly.

They either had their brows raised or cocked. They all shared a look between each other then looked back at me.

I took a deep breath and looked at the ground. "I guess I'm trying to say s..." I stopped before it came out. I was _not_ used to saying this. "Sor..." They continued to look at me strangely. "Sorry." I mumbled.

"You aren't good with apologies, are you?" Hiccup asked.

"Or people, as you can see." I said quietly.

"Oh, we can see." Astrid said. "We can see _clearly_."

"Astrid." Hiccup scolded, she narrowed her eyes. He then looked back at me. "What are you doing here? You look kind of familiar."

"Well, I don't know if I really am familiar or not but I came here because it was the closest island I could find." I said and looked at the sky where a herd of Terrible Terrors flew overhead. "Dragons that will be able to protect those in trouble, right?"

"Are you saying that there's a warrant on your back or something?" Astrid asked.

"No, I was actually on a fishing trip. It was just me and a few other kids on a when these Vikings called Outcasts came to attack me and the others. I was terrified and did what I could to get away but right when they almost got me, luck suddenly came my way and a few Scauldrons began to attack the Outcasts' ship. I got back on my boat and got out of there as fast as I possibly could. I got here early in the morning. I ended up leaving the others behind in my panic. I'm so selfish. I'm pathetic." I said, fake tears brimming my eyes.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Hiccup said and placed a hand on my shoulder. I nodded and turned my head away in shame with a quiver of the shoulders. "You weren't thinking. I've done it before, I'm sure that we all have at one point or another."

"What? I'll go pound 'em!" Snotlout said.

"Please don't." I said gently. "I mean, look at me. I'm fine. Broken hearted at my stupid selfishness but... fine."

"So, what's your name?" Asked Hiccup. His voice was very gentle, as if not to hurt me.

The other teens looked like they were on the edges of their seat though they weren't sitting down. Astrid continued to glare at me and placed a hand up her hip.

Here it goes.

"The name's Alyssa Hudson." I said. They all rose their brows.

What in the name of Thor did I just get myself into?

Why the heck did I give them my real name? Why? Why?!

I'm stupid! Stupid Alyssa! Bad!

Oh, I am _so_ dead.

"What? B-But, Al died years ago." Hiccup said then stared at me in disbelief.

'Al'? Why does that sound familiar? Hm, I could be imagining things again. It's probably not important.

I looked at the others that had looks of shock and disbelief.

Hold your dragons, what did Hiccup just say?

"What?" I asked.

"Her dad said that a Gronckle killed her during a dragon raid." Fishlegs said. He was pale like he had just seen a ghost, a lot of them were that way. "We even found a body."

"Huh?" I rose a brow. This was all very confusing.

"Died." Fishlegs repeated.

"I promise you guys, it's me. I'm fine." I said quietly.

"I _really_ don't appreciate jokes like that." Hiccup said flatly there was a fire in his eyes that I looked away from quickly. "My first friend's life _isn't _something to joke about. We weren't together for long but we got really close. That was a _really _big loss for me and at such a young age only about a few years after my moth-"

"Hiccup." I cut him off. "There's no need for any of this. I'm serious. Alyssa Nicolette Hudson is my name. Slade Hudson is my father."

"Very funny." He said sharply. "Let's go, Toothless. She obviously isn't too appreciative of our help." He began to walk to the prosthetic-tailed dragon. "Either that or Slade probably hired her to just make my life miserable all over again just so she could remind me that Al's gone. So I hope you're happy."

Okay, whoa! I was not expecting him to go off on me like that. To be honest, that kind of hurt. Okay, it really hurt.

"Hold on, Hiccup." I grabbed his arm, he spun to face me sharply. Our eyes had finally met and the anger on his face quickly faded.

His eyes were... kind of empty. They were hurt and lonely. His eyes were very beautiful, though. I remember seeing these eyes before. A long, long time ago.

"You... you really weren't joking." He gasped. His eyes grew so large that they almost looked like they'd pop out of his head.

"Wait, _Hiccup_?" I asked.

Most of this makes sense now. He kept saying that 'Al' or in other words, me, was his first friend and how could I forget that he was mine? I'm actually disappointed in myself.

"Al." He gasped my nickname. His shocked mouth broke into a huge grin, he quickly wrapped his arms around me. "I can't believe it's actually you!" He pushed himself away from me. "You were dead! I-I mean, I thought you were but here you are, you're not dead. And your father-... Slade." He almost hissed his name. "It's his fault, isn't it?"

"Huh?" I asked.

"It's his fault you were gone, wasn't it? He just did it to break me." He said gravely.

"No, I-I mean, I don't know." I shrugged with slightly widened eyes at his low tone.

Note: don't piss Hiccup off.

He thought it over for a bit, "Ah, forget it. You're fine and that's all that matters." He hugged me again.

Wait, this is really bad.

This is Hiccup.

The Hiccup I'm out to capture.

Whose father I'm out to kill.

The one who will be heartbroken after finding out how I deceived him.

Wait. Why do I care? I'm an Outcast and I'm only here for him and his father. My feelings are acting up after seeing him after all these years. I have to ignore it and block it out.

The mission always, _always_ comes first.

"Um, Al?" He asked.

"Yeah?" I said.

"You kind of zoned out. Are you okay?" He looked in my eyes.

"Uh, yeah." I nodded slowly. I faked a smile at him, "Good to see you again." I hugged him back. I could feel Astrid's judging eyes on me while the others only stared at me in shock.

"It will be best that your dad doesn't know you're back. That's just a disaster waiting to happen." He said.

"Yep." I said. "To be honest, I'm not looking forward to seeing him either."

"Okay, let's get you back. There's so much that we have to tell you." He said and got on the prosthetic-tailed dragon. "Come on."

"'We'?" Astrid asked.

"Astrid, don't be that way. Who knows? Maybe you guys will find some common ground together." Hiccup said.

"I hightly doubt that." We both said at the same time then glared at each other.

"Al, come on." Hiccup was too excited and happy to see me to really care for anything else. "We can take care of you here on Berk. We can be your family."

Family?

Um, no thanks. I'm here for you, your dad and the dragons.

"Sound good?" He asked.

"Great." I nodded with a grin.

"Sit down behind me. I don't think Shadow's safe to ride." He said then he gestured to the full-tailed Night Fury that sent him a scowl. "Don't look at me like that. When I let Astrid ride on your back, you threw her in the ocean." I climbed up onto the Night Fury he sat on then I laughed when he said that Shadow threw Astrid in the ocean.

"What's so funny?" Astrid asked.

"You got thrown into the ocean." I stiffled through giggles.

"I'm about to throw you in a Fireworm pit!" She snapped at me.

"Astrid, calm down." Hiccup said. "Al just has a unique sense of humor. That's why we went so well together when we were kids, right?" He looked at me.

"Right. It was only for a month but you know, it was all good." I nodded. He turned back around and when no one was looking, I rolled my eyes. He looked back at me once again, I sat up straight and smiled.

"Ready for take off?" He asked.

"Sure thing." I said. I wrapped my arms around him.

"All right, guys, let's go." Hiccup said.

Toothless, I believe the dragon's name is, flew at a high speed.

"Holy sweet mother of Thor!" I tightened my arm's grip around Hiccup at the sudden burst of speed. "Slow him down, slow him down. I'm getting sick."

"Okay, but let go. I can't breathe." He said. I slackened my arms and looked around. "Toothless, slow down. She's a friend, she won't judge us."

Toothless slowed down, he looked back at me then gave a huffing laughter. I heard the same laugh come from slightly behind, I turned and saw the full-tailed Night Fury, Shadow, I think. He saw me looking at him and turned away with a smirk on his face.

Ignoring that; so far it's been going well. Let's just hope that this keeps up.


	3. Progress

**snake screamer: Thank you.**

**Iron-Mantis: Thank you.**

* * *

"Okay, and here we are." Hiccup said when we got up to his room.

"This relationship is moving a bit fast, don't you think?" I asked.

"Huh?"

"Nothing, Hiccup. It was just a joke." I said. I looked at the drawings up on his wall and scattered across his desk. I rose my brows at them, "Those are really good. I don't remember ever seeing such artistic talent before."

A lot of them were of the two Night Furies. In some of them they were lying together, playing together and there were just a whole bunch of other amazing pictures that can't really be described. Some were of new tail designs for the half-tailed one, others were possible saddle designs for the other one.

All in all, I was genuinely impressed.

"You really think so?" He asked. I nodded. "Well, thanks. I try hard."

"You succeed." I said. He may be the enemy but I'm not above praising others for something amazing that they're capable of doing. "I'm actually a whittler."

"A whittler? Like a wood carver?" He asked.

"Yep." I said. "I needed some way to pass my free time so I began to look for things to do and it turns out I actually have quite the knack for it."

"Okay, hold on." He said and began to go downstairs. "I'll be right back." He called.

"I'll be here." I called back. He came back a few seconds later with a log and a knife.

"Care to demonstrate your whittling skills?" He asked with a raised brow.

"Sure thing." I smirked down at him. I sat on the floor next to his bed and took the two items from him. I laid the piece of wood down in my lap and looked the knife over before beginning to cut at the wood. "It might take a while." I said.

"I can wait." He said. He stood next to the stairs, "I'll go get you something to eat. Shadow, Toothless, stay up here with her, okay? I'll bring you guys some dinner, too."

The one with the prosthetic tail laid up in the rock bed, the full-tailed one sat next to me and watched me carve. It was a bit odd, I'll admit it. He was pretty close to my personal space but I ignored it and continued.

He looked around and flew out of the window. There was a loud crashing noise and there was a bang against the side of the house that made both me and Toothless jump. Luckily, it didn't mess up my carving. A branch suddenly flew in through the window and almost hit Toothless.

Hiccup came up with a basket in his arms, "Shadow did this, didn't he?" He asked. I nodded. Shadow came back in through the window and shook himself off a bit. "Shadow, what are you doing?"

Shadow looked at the branch then at my carving. He looked up at Hiccup, I gave a confused look to the two of them.

"Oh!" Hiccup gasped after realizing something. "Night Furies tend to copy things that they see." He said. "Toothless copied me drawing in the dirt with a stick, Shadow's copying you whittling. That's all." He put the basket down. "This one's for Toothless. And I'll be back with yours, Shades." He descended the stairs.

Toothless began to eat at his fish and Shadow dragged the large branch over next to me. He watched as I continued to carve then began to lean over and bite on the large branch. He stopped once in a while, looked at me then began to claw at it before going back to biting at it.

He stopped only once and that was to eat his fish, I finally finished my carving and examined it. One of my best works so far, if I do say so myself. He finished his meal then came back and looked down at my carving.

"Okay, Al, dinner." Hiccup came and put a plate on the desk. "I'll put that right there for you."

"It's done." I said. I showed him the carving I made.

He looked at it then gave me an approving nod. "Nice!" He said. "A mini Night Fury."

I shrugged, "First thing that came to mind."

He grinned, "I love it." He said.

"You can keep it if you want." I handed it to him.

"Are you sure?" He rose a brow and held it in his hands.

"Yep." I nodded. "And if you don't want to keep it then you can sell it or trade for it. Give it to someone as a gift."

"Well, thanks. I'll go ahead and keep it. This is a beautiful piece of work." He set it up on the desk but on the opposite side that the food was on.

"Thanks, you're too kind." I said. I'm really hating how easy it is to like him. I'm not lying, it's been less than a day and I'm irritated with his likability already.

Suddenly, the smell of the fish he must have cooked drifted into my nostrils, I sniffed a bit then pulled the plate into my lap. I began to eat happily. This food was amazing. Not rotten or old like on Outcast Island. "Food. Real food!"

Hiccup huffed a laugh out, then sat on the edge of his bed with his legs crossed. "So, where were you all these years?"

I almost choked.

I didn't even think about that.

I looked up at him then shifted my gaze back to the fish, I ran my fingers in a circle on the floor. "Well, I was back with the Berserkers." I said slowly then began to speak more quickly. "I was convinced that maybe I could connect with my roots and somehow that would make me stronger."

"But... but you left me behind." He furrowed his brows. He said it with pain laced into the words.

"I know, I'm sorry but I did it so I could get stronger, for you. I was planning on coming back in about a few months or so, you know, kind of like a surprise visit. I guess I'll have to cancel that trip."

He thought about what I said for a moment, "Well, that's kind of you." He grinned.

Wow, you're dense. That's good.

"It was kind of both you and your father to let me stay here. The look on his face was priceless." I said, smirking though I was a bit skeptical at Stoic's agreement.

Did not even ask any questions. We told him who I was, he was in shock after a short moment then agreed to let me stay with them. I've got my eyes on him.

"Well, I'm sure everyone's bound to have the same face. We thought you were dead for years." He said in defense.

I was no longer eating and there was half of the fish left, I noticed Shadow looking at me. I rose a brow up at him, "What? Did I do something wrong?" He shifted his gaze to the fish. "_Oh_. Here you go." I held it out to him, he rose the scales above one of his eyes skeptically and turned his head away a bit. He examined both me and the fish closely.

I wasn't going to pry at him. I have to _earn_ their trust, not force it.

He came close, nudged it with his nose then sniffed at it. He looked back at me then once again at the fish. He opened his mouth and I saw _no teeth_. Nothing but gums. I guess that's why that dragon is called Toothle-

"Watch it." Hiccup warned quickly.

"Why?" I asked.

Teeth quickly darted out of the dragon's gums and into the fish, he pulled back and hurriedly ate it then licked his lips.

"That's why." He said.

"He shouldn't be called Toothless! He should be called 'Deceivingly Toothless.'"

He only laughed gently and shook his head. Then after he saw me yawn, he stood up. "So, you need your sleep. So do we. Can I get you anything before we all drift off?"

"No but thank you for the offer." I said.

"You can sleep in here. Me and the dragons will sleep downstairs." Hiccup said. "Come on, guys." He began walking downstairs, he turned back to me with bright eyes and a smile. "And sleep well, Al." He continued downstairs with Toothless following.

"Sweet dreams, Hic." I said.

I don't know why that was my first response. It was just this little itch in the back of my head that forced me to say that. It was also a bit familiar to me but I shook it off.

Hiccup stopped in his tracks, turned and looked at me, his smile grew a bit. "Sweet dreams, Al." There was a look of recognition in his eyes as he spoke those words, like a lost memory. He finally turned and left to completly descend down the stairs.

I rose a brow then something nudged me from behind. I turned and saw the full-tailed Night Fury, Shadow. He dropped the 'carving' of his next to me. I looked at it though it was nothing really but a branch with a bunch of bites taken out of it and clawmarks.

"Good job, Shadow." I said. He looked rather proud of himself, considering that he puffed his chest out and smirked. I don't know why I felt the need to reach out and touch the carving but he growled at me. I pulled back and looked at him, he trilled gently. I rose a brow and reached for it again, he growled again so again, I pulled back. I did it once again then I finally decided to leave it alone since he looked like he was ready to bite me the next time I did that.

Instead, I just gave him a grin then I felt the sudden need to reach over and pet him. He saw me doing so out of the corner of his eye then growled at me, I pulled back. "Okay, sorry about that. You have boundries, I respect that." He rose the scales above one of his eyes.

"Shadow, come on, bud." Hiccup said from downstairs. "Let Al sleep."

The Night Fury picked up his carving and before walking downtairs, he turned to me and locked eyes with me for a second, not in a dangerous or threatening way but as in a somewhat friendly way. He turned and walked downstairs with his carving.

I don't really want any problems on my hands with getting Hiccup or the others to trust me. I don't give two craps about anyone else, really, as long as I've got him and his father in the palm of my hand, I'm sure that we can get along _just fine._

But still, I'm hating the fact that he's so nice and likeable. Seriously, he's got to be the only person sweet enough to give me a toothache. Okay, that might have been an exaggeration but I'm sure that you catch my drift.

I stared throughtfully at the ceiling and traced my fingers in small circles on the side of the bed. I just laid back and thought to myself for a while.

This is the chief's house, he sleeps downstairs all the time, according to Hiccup. He's down there with two Night Furies and the said Viking himself. He also has swords and shields that decorate the wall. From what I was tought on Outcast Island, you always go for the sword but from personal experience, the shield is the better way to go.

But I can't kill Stoic right now. I'll figure something out after a while, for now, I can only attempt to earn their full trust. I'll get trust from Hiccup so he can teach me how to train dragons then I'll get trust from the dragons themselves. When Hiccup is gone with his dragons, I guess I can attack then.

Well, I think so anyway. Honestly, I'm not the best planner. Especially since I've only got that far. Until I can figure out a better idea, then this is what I'll stick with. In other words, I'm the worst planner ever if I think _this _is going to work.

After a while, I slowly creeped downstairs to see Hiccup and the two dragons huddled together sleeping. I smirked and quietly went back upstairs, climbed out of the window and did a quick check outside for anything or anyone that might have seen me sneaking around.

I wasn't going to run because that's too sketchy, I'll be taking slow and casual walks through the area.

I slid down to the ground with a light scrape and balanced myself once I got on the ground. I began my casual walk through the area, catching the attention of a few dragons that remained awake but they paid me no mind just like the night before.

My destination was reached, Slade's house. I looked around and opened the door without knocking. I saw Slade's druken body sprawled on the ground near the fireplace.

"You'll never change, will you, old man?" I asked. I kicked him in the side. "Get up." He groaned and mubmled tiredly in response to the kick. "Get up, you drunkard!" I kicked him as hard as I could. He jerked awake and looked at me with half-lidded eyes, he wiped the drool off his mouth and threw one of his mugs aside.

"You?" He groaned and held his forehead with both hands. "What do you need this time? I can't be wasting my time."

"Sure." I said sarcastically and picked up a mug that had a bit of ale in it. I tossed it next to him. "Progress report, idiot." I said. He coughed heavily, I folded my arms and impatiently waited for him to finish coughing. Once he was done, he glared up at me from his sitting position.

"What do you have to tell me? Make it fast, too. You're wasting my time." He groaned.

"You pointed that out already. Oh, and you'd have plenty of time on your hands if you didn't spend the whole night drunk and the whole day sitting back on your bloated bubble-butt." I said snidely. He glared at me and picked up the fireplace pick. "I wouldn't if I were you."

"Well, you're not." He said and threw it at me. I ducked away from it and laughed at him.

"You're losing your touch, old man." I said through maniacal giggles. "Anyway, my progress report: I've made connections with Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the dragons and his friends. He's oblivious."

"Good." Slade said flatly. "Now, leave."

"No." I said. "Him and the Ingerman boy said something interesting."

"Great, what is it now?" He glared at me.

"Apparently, a Gronckle killed me." I folded my arms. "Care to explain?"

"No, I don't. Good night." He laid back down. I picked up the fireplace pick and whacked him in the leg, he jerked up and looked at me blankly. "Leave me alone, would you? I need rest."

"You _need_ a job." I said. "Give me my answer and I won't hit you again."

"You gotta break a heart somehow." He said and laid back down.

"What the heck is that supposed to mean?" I asked. Slade rolled over and faced his back to me, "Look at me when I'm talking to you, Hudson!" I whacked him again. He glared at me darkly.

"Go away!" He shouted.

"No, you listen to me, Hudson." I said. "Don't you ever speak to Haddock again. Heed my warning, all you'll do is screw up the whole deal."

"Speak to him? I can barely stand the brat."

"_Don't ever speak to Haddock again._ Do. You. Understand?" I growled at him.

"Fine, fine. Leave now, would you?" He grumbled.

"Fine." I growled. I left the house and quietly shut the door.

I'm surprised that the whole village didn't wake up after all of our shouting. I began to walk back to the Haddock household, climbed in through the same window I exited from and laid back in bed with a yawn.

Finally, time for some shut eye.


	4. Double Trouble

**snake screamer: Thank you and I saw it too. I started to freak out immediately. **

**Okay, onto the story!**

* * *

I laid in bed for about ten minutes just thinking about how I should take care of this day. I put clues together from yesterday so I could carefully decide how my actions should be placed out through today.

When I began to think about only focusing in on Hiccup and Stoic, I began to question if that was really healthy for the misson. I would be zeroing in the chief and his heir so I had to fall back from that idea and I'll have to manipulate as many of these fools as I can. Who I should start with is most definately my main question.

Hiccup is dense and I'm staying in his house so I really doubt that there's much more work needed there to continue winning him over. Astrid is suspicious of me and if I avoid her then that'll surely be suspicious so I can _try_ with her but I can't try too hard. Snotlout had shown interest in me so he can easily be manipulated with a few kind words and gestures. Fishlegs seems to be kind so I can do the same that I'll do with Snotlout but not as forward. The twins are clueless so I can have them easily have them eat out of the palm of my hand. So picking my victims should be fun.

So what I'm trying to say is that some people will be much easier to win over than others, and by others, I mean Astrid. So if I'm able to win the others over then work my way over to her and _somehow_ show her that I'm trustworthy, she'll ease up at least a bit. I can't have her running around and getting into my businsess.

And I'm still quite unfamiliar to the subject of training dragons but Hiccup had told me that I should stay calm, feed them, approach them slowly and show them that they could trust me. He said that they can smell fear and the last thing I want to do is threaten them. I'm sure that should be interesting but I'm still an amateur and I haven't gone up to train a dragon so I'll push that aside for now.

On another note, that Night Fury of Hiccup's, Shadow, he gives me strange feeling. The dragon seems very familiar to me, too but I can't put my finger on it.

But getting back to the subject, I had finally gotten out of the house and casually strolled around the village. The first familiar Viking teen that I saw was going to be my first target and I'll squeeze whatever I can out of them but subtly, you can't just rush into things.

The first thing I saw was an explosion that suddenly burst only about a few feet from me. A few items flew past me from the blast and some ash blew about. Two people suddenly ran past me on either side of me, chuckling. The way they ran past me made me spin slightly, getting me quite a bit dizzy. I straightened up and looked in their direction to be almost trampled from behind by a Zippleback that chased them.

_The twins, huh?_ I watched their pale blonde hair disappear behind a building then saw their Zipplebacks' heads poke over the building to make sure no one was watching then they ducked their heads back down. I rose a brow up in slight amusement and slowly walked over. I could hear their whispering around the corner.

"Did you see the look on their faces?" Tuffnut asked, most likely referring to the faces of the people after the explosion.

"Priceless!" Ruffnut said.

"Hey, guys! What are you talking about?" I asked when I had suddenly poked my head out from around the corner. Tuffnut cried out and fell back into Ruffnut, her eyes widened but she didn't cry out like Tuffnut had. Ruffnut suddenly looked down at her brother then dropped him to the ground.

"Ow!" He cried, he sat up and looked in slight shock, probably thinking that he was caught and/or in trouble.

"Sorry about that, guys." I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. "I just wanted to join in on the fun."

"Fun?" Tuffnut asked. He got up and rubbed his head through his helmet while wincing slightly.

"Come on, Tuffnut. You know..." Ruffnut trailed off and shoved him to the ground randomly. "Fun." She gave a smirk and shrug.

"Oh, yeah. I forgot." He stood up and rubbed his head again.

"So, you guys enjoy harming each other and trouble-making for fun?" I asked slyly.

"Oh, yeah." Ruffnut clenched her hands up into fists and was smirking all the while.

"No, duh." Tuffnut said.

"So, do you mind if I come along for one of your diabolacle schemes?" I asked slowly with puppy eyes then I noticed their somewhat blank expressions.

Oops, that's right. I need to use a smaller vocabulary.

"I mean, is it okay if I come with you?" I asked more confidentally this time. The twins looked at each other and chuckled somewhat evilly.

I'll take that as a 'yes'.

* * *

"Okay, Ruffnut and I are going to go tip over some of those yaks on Bucket and Mulch's farm. All you have to do, Alyssa, is make sure to keep an eye out for anyone." Tuffnut informed.

"Right." I nodded.

"No, you have to look to the left, too." Tuffnut said.

"And forward and back." Ruffnut added.

I internally rolled my eyes at this but forced on a careful stare to focus in on the two.

"Okay, sure thing. Anything else?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah, they have a Deadly Nadder and a Monstrous Nightmare so keep an eye out for them, too." Tuffnut said.

"Wait, what?" I rose my brows with caution.

"Be back in a flash!" Tuffnut whispered and both him and Ruffnut leaped from their spots to go and tip the yaks.

I kept my guard up, looking in each and every direction. There were no dragons and no people, the twins were safe so far but that doesn't mean that I was ready to let my guard down yet. I also made sure to stay hidden behind a cart and make sure that no one would be able to see me either.

"Almost done!" Ruffnut whispered to me. I gave her a double thumbs-up and one the cheesiest grins ever with highly raised brows. When she turned her back to me so she and her brother could carry about their business, I rolled my eyes with a small, irritated growl deep in the back of my throat. "Just a few more."

Well, get on with it already. This is ridiculous.

The things I do for this mission.

Four yaks later, I saw something up in the sky. A Thunderdrum, to be percise. I looked at the twins and whistled at them, the two followed my line of vision and ran up and hid behind the cart with me. They were both laughing their butts off and nudging each other then giving small nudges to me.

"You just spotted the chief. Now, stay down." Tuffnut said. We all stayed, crouching down to make sure that none of us got caught. I felt their presence become faint so I poked my head around just enough to get a good look at them.

"I don't see them. Not yet, at least." I informed, still scanning the sky until I saw Stoic flying off with his Thunderdrum in the opposite direction of the farm. I sighed with relief, "Yeah, they're gone. It's okay to come out."

"Thanks, Alyssa. You're an awesome lookout, not like Ruffnut." Tuffnut pointed to her with his thumb. She glared at him and shoved him aside. "Ow!"

"We only got caught because you're too slow!" Ruffnut retorted.

"No, you didn't see that Gronckle coming!" Tuffnut fumbled around a bit to get up then pointed at her.

"Guys, we should really get out of here before we get caught." I nudged them both. They looked at me silently then nodded.

"Yeah, let's go." Ruffnut said.

We took off running and of course, they were laughing mischeviously. They leapt onto the upper-neck of their Zippleback and allowed me to get on somewhere along the upper or middle-back. We flew away from the area, the twins were laughing and I was only staring back at the farm until I turned ahead seriously as the twins began to argue.

"I tipped more yaks than you did!" Tuffnut said.

"You tipped three. I tipped five." Ruffnut said proudly and held up four fingers.

Ooh, _so_ close, Ruffnut.

"No, _I _tipped five!" Tuffnut held up three fingers.

They aren't good with counting, are they?

"Alyssa, who tipped more yaks?" Ruffnut suddenly turned around and asked.

"It was me." Tuffnut shoved Ruffnut aside. "I know it was, wasn't it?"

I thought back on it for a few short seconds then shook my head. "You both knocked over four. There were eight yaks. So you both got half."

The twins grumbled at each other a bit then turned to me once again, "Do you think you'll be up for it again in a few days?" Tuffnut asked.

"Hm?" I tilted my head at them. I heard them, I just wasn't sure that I heard right.

"Do... you... want... to... go... again?" Tuffnut asked, much slower this time, probably to make sure that I caught every word.

"Maybe. I'll get back to you guys when and if my schedual is free." I said.

"Cool." The twins laughed and fist bumped each other.

We landed in the plaza only a moment later, I leaped off and felt a small tug on my side. I lifted my arm to get a better look at what it was and saw that one of the Zippleback heads was tugging on a satchel that Hiccup had given me.

"Hm?" I shifted my gaze between the satchel and the Zippleback head. The other head was staring intently at the satchel. "What is it?"

I didn't have much in there. I just had whatever Hiccup gave me, which was just a spyglass and a few fish in case I got hungry or in case I wanted to train a dragon.

_Oh_, it was the fish they wanted. Duh.

Might as well start with the dragon training now.

"It's okay if I feed them, right?" I asked the twins. They both looked at each other then shrugged with blank expressions. I guess that's a 'yes'.

I took out two fish and held one out for each head. They both stared at the fish briefly then bit into them, pulling back and chewing greedily. I wiped my hands on my hips and grinned at the heads. I patted one head at a time and grinned at them.

"Hm, you guys are adorable." I said. I gave each of them another rub to the nose and began to walk away. Then as I turned around and looked back at them, I gave them a cautious nod and stared at them very carefully. "Don't get into too much trouble, guys."

The twins chuckled and fist-bumped each other in response.


	5. Of Lunch and Knowledge

Well, I'd like to think that my experience with the twins was a success, especially since they had invited me to go yak-tipping and whatnot with them again. It was almost too easy to win them over. And let me just say that that was honestly one of the strangest experiences of my life but I found it to be just fine, if not for the sake of the mission then for myself.

I didn't eat anything yet so my stomach began to become increasing angry with me, judging by its growls. I wasn't going to use any of the fish in my satchel because I was going to save those for the dragons. Instead, I looked around for the great hall since that's where most dinners take place and when I finally saw it, I slowly walked up towards it. I could already smell the fresh bread and sizzling meat, it made my mouth water just from the smell.

My eyelids fluttered shut momentarily as I kept walking until I walked face-first into something. I opened my eyes quickly and in shock to see the door. I rubbed my hand against my head and looked around awkwardly then opened the door and shut it behind me after I walked in. The smell had gotten much stronger now that I was inside and I let out a happy sigh from the scents that bombarded my senses.

I took in a deep inhale of the numerous, delicious smells of all the different kinds of food being cooked and looked for the beginning of the line, which happened to be a bit long. I rose up my brows slightly but waited in line anyway. It moved a bit slower than I had expected since not many people are as picky as Outcasts with their food, well some were and others weren't.

When it had finally come around for me to get my own food, I gathered it carefully but I made sure that I got meat. I _need_ meat and it _has to be_ at least medium-rare.

Then after I had gotten my food, I looked around for a table and saw an empty one among the filled tables. I gave an acknowledging hum and sat down at the table. I stared hungrily at the meat but decided to save the best for last and instead went for the bread that I'd gotten.

It was a rich, golden-brown and had a delicious rich and crispy, crunching noise to it. It has just a bit of butter on it and I made sure to eat slowly, to savor the taste of this delicious food. It was absolutely splendid.

"U-um, excuse me?" Someone said. It sounded like it was directed to me.

I lifted my head up from the table and wiped my mouth with my tunic's sleeve and back of my hand. I saw Fishlegs with a plate of chicken in one hand and a book in the other. I looked at him cluelessly.

"Is this seat taken?" He pointed to one of the many empty seats at the table.

Normally, I would have given a sarcastic answer but instead I remembered that I have to 'bond' with them. So I said "No, go ahead and sit down if you want to."

"Okay, thank you." He sat down, placed his plate and book down, opened the book and read carefully as he slowly ate.

Luckily for me, I didn't have to hunt down my next target, he came to me. That just saves me the time, good thing, too. Especially since right now I was hungry and I probably wouldn't be in the mood to hunt down anyone else for a while.

I finished off what was left of my bread then turned my attention back to him, he kept his eyes locked onto the many pages of the book. I peeped over and saw the pages filled with different kinds of information on different kinds of plants, many of them were forgein to me. The only plants that you can really see on Outcast Island are those Loki trees, they don't really add much color to the place.

"That looks interesting. Good book?" I asked and looked at him intenetly, he didn't seem to hear me since he was too into his book. I cleared my throat and he finally looked up at me with a slight jump.

"Oops, sorry. You say something?" He asked.

"I was just asking if the book you're reading is a good one." I said. I folded my arms on the table in front of me and leaned over on them slightly as I stared down at the pages and once every couple of seconds, glancing back up at Fishlegs.

"Yep. It's a botany book that I got a while back from trader Johann. It's a real page-turner that never gets old." He said excitedly.

"You don't mind if I join in while you're reading, do you?" I asked quietly and carefully with cautious eyes.

"Oh, sure thing." He said and gestured to the book, he slid a bit closer and pushed the book between us so we could both read it. "Look, this one is the oleander. It's poisonous to reptiles and unfortunately, we found that out the hard way."

"I think that rosemary is poisonous to reptiles too, isn't it?" I asked.

"I'm pretty sure. Let me check." He flipped through the pages and when he found the rosemary, he pointed to the page as he spoke. "It says that it's mainly the leaves. Good thing that none of us here on Berk are into rosemary." He said then looked behind me, his eyes widened. "No, no. Meatlug, don't-!"

I quickly followed his line of sight and saw that his Gronckle ate my steak. My eyes widened and I probably should have been angry but I wasn't, I just shrugged it off after getting over the shock. "It's fine. I was done eating anyway."

"Are you sure? I can go get you another steak if you want-" Fishlegs began but I cut him off.

"Fishlegs, I'm fine. It isn't troublesome at all." I said then thought of something. "Wait, I thought that Hiccup said that they don't eat livestock, they eat fish."

"Well, they don't eat livestock while it's... well... _alive_. Well, most of 'em don't." He said carefully. "And other than fish and livestock, Gronckles eat rocks but Meatlug can't eat limestone, it doesn't agree with her." He whispered at the end. We both briefly glanced over at Meatlug, she had an innocent smile and her head tilted after we looked over at her.

"And it's difficult to deplete their shot limit, isn't it? Because it's refilled as soon as they eat rocks?" I asked.

"Yeah. You're pretty good with this stuff." Fishlegs grinned.

"Thank you?" I asked, I'm not used to compliments. "I've spent just about most of my life with the Berserkers just studying dragons. It gave me something to do."

"Did you discover anything interesting?" He asked excitedly.

"Probably nothing that you guys don't know." I shook my head slowly.

"Hold on, I'll be back with the dragon manual, stay here and I'll be back." He said then quickly walked away, regardless of the small steps he was taking.

_Dragon manual?_ I thought to myself. _Is he talking about that book of dragons that Heather mentioned some time ago?_

I ignored it and looked at Meatlug, she was asleep next to the table with her front paws folded up under her chin. She snored quietly as her back rose and fell. I was curious about what the dragon felt like, the skin looked tough but I just wanted a feel on it. I've heard that it's like armor.

I leaned over and ran my hand down the tough and hard-as-rock hide. It really was like touching a rock because of how strong and thick the scales were. It was a bit springy, as well. The texture was obviously unlike that of a Hideous Zippleback, whose scales are surprisingly smoothe.

I removed my hand from the Gronckle and sat up straight, I folded one of my legs over the other, leaned back and sighed. I looked around at the other dragons around the great hall that I suppose are able to go in and out freely just as the people are.

I saw a mass of black shift in the corner of the hall, I looked over and saw nothing. Instead, there was movement a few yards away from where it this shadow had just been. I kept my eyes peeled for any more movement then saw two deep green eyes flicker before slowly walking away from a table, a steamed fish in its mouth.

I came to realize that it was the full-tailed Night Fury, Shadow. He had his eyes shifting around the room and walked into yet another corner of the hall, he bit the fish in half and pushed the other half in front of him. A little green Terrible Terror with brown wings and a white underbelly came out and ate the fish he left out for her. She nuzzled up to one of his forepaws, he took a step back and gave her a gentle nudge for her to back off along with a gentle grunt. She chirped then walked on her own merry way.

I saw him look up and we had locked eyes. He stared at me with focus and he didn't waver. I, on the other hand, got a bit nervous from his gaze. He took his time blinking and made sure to keep an eye on my every movement.

I gulped and turned away, I felt his gaze on me still but when I looked back up, he wasn't there anymore.

That was strange.

"Hey, I'm back." Fishlegs said. I jumped at the sound of his voice, he didn't notice and sat next to me with the dragon book. He opened it to a random page.

"Do you mind if I have a look at the Night Fury page?" I asked. Fishlegs looked at me curiously. "I just want to have a look, if that's okay."

"Sure thing." He flicked through the pages carefully and finally landed on the Night Fury page. "Here you go."

He slid the book over to me, I nodded to him. "Thanks."

He had only grinned in response.

I made sure to read each and every word, I didn't want to miss a thing. That Night Fury, Shadow, there's something that's appealing about him and I really want to find out what it is.

'Reclusive, analytical, inventive and the most intelligent of the known dragon species.'

Reclusive explains why Shadow was sneaking around and is the perfect example of how he was able to go unseen despite his size. Analytical fits with how he was staring at me, _examining_ me. Inventive, I guess that explains why he tried to whittle with me a while back.

The most intelligent of the known dragon species, how intelligent are they? I'll try and see if I can get any examples out of Hiccup later.

'Using the night sky to conceal its beautiful dark hide, it dive bombs villages, ships and armies virtually unseen and never misses.'

Sure thing, I'll keep that in mind. That information's bound to useful.

'The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage with this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you.'

Wow, that's intense. I'll be _absolutely_ sure to keep this in mind. _All of this_ information.

"Hm, this is very interesting." I said then pushed the book over to him. "Thank you for this, Fishlegs. I'm getting kind of tired, though."

"Oh, uh. Okay?"

"So, it's been nice talking with you and all. Have a nice night." I said seriously.

"Uh, okay. You too." Fishlegs said.

I got up and walked out of the great hall. The day was over half done and my progress so far has been excellent, then I smirked as my next target came into view.


	6. The Next Target

**snake screamer: Thank you.**

**Iron-Mantis: Thank you and sure thing. To answer your question, it'll be the ladder of the two. I'll let you read on to see why.**

* * *

I approached the target that I focused on slowly, I didn't need to alarm this person who was momentarily my prey. I didn't need to startle him either but I _wanted _to and in order for that to work, he can't see me. As long as I'm not moving quickly, that will indeed work. The slower you move, the less people think you're doing something wrong and the less attention you attract. Why else would I walk when approaching Slade's house?

Honestly, I actually get a bit of a kick out of jumping at people. It could be the more cruel side of me since I do it quite a bit. On Outcast Island, I would do it more than frequently though I knew the consequences of this, which was basically just being hit. So because of this, I had to move fast to avoid the attacks. It would work sometimes but not all the time.

Another thing I get a kick out of was basically just fooling with others or making them look like fools themselves. Once, I placed a pail of grimy water over Alvin's quarters, let's just say that he wasn't too fond of it and chased me almost halfway around the island before he lost me, which was in a den that I'd found about a year after my stay.

No one was ever able to find me there, it was well hidden behind a fallen Loki tree that was also pinned by a boulder so I doubt that it was going anywhere. The gloominess of the island is able to cleverly hide the hole and make it all look very natural.

Okay but enough about that, it's probably not important. So let's go ahead and get on with my progress with my next target.

"Hello, Snotlout. How are you today?" I asked kindly. He did a double-take to make sure that I was actually talking to him and that it was really me, he even rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times just to be sure. I faked a laugh, "What's wrong? Yak got your tongue?"

He blinked briefly before speaking, "Hey, Alyssa. You need something?"

He was a lot calmer than I expected him to be, especially considering our history of arguements when were only five but then again, he could have just let it all go or it could just be the interest he showed in me.

"Just to talk." I shrugged nonchalantly.

"Talk? About what?" His brows rose up in confusion.

"First off, I missed arguing with you." I internally smirked as I spoke, sending him a kind smile. His face fell but he composed himself somewhat, he put his hands up on his hips and leaned back to seem calm but the nervousness on his face and the slight shake in his knees said otherwise. I pretended to ignore it for the time being.

"Yeah, good to know. I missed that, too." He said deadpanned and feigned a laugh.

"Well, how have things been for you?" I asked, staring at his Monstrous Nightmare for a moment just before shifting my gaze back toward him.

"Going great. Just great." He leaned over and put his hand on a post to his house. "How about yourself? I probably shouldn't ask because you're looking fine to me."

"Well, thank you. I feel fine and you look great yourself." I said innocently, pretending to not pick up on what he was trying to say. "That dragon of yours is impressive, quite a handsome one if you ask me."

His dragon gave a bashful look as he slowly bowed his head down and stared at me thoughtfully. I smiled and patted his wing gently, he purred gently and continued the thoughtful staring.

"Yeah, he's great." Snotlout said passively, approached me slightly then placed his hand up on the Nightmare's wing. He leaned against him, wiping the thoughtful look off his dragon's face and replaced it with annoyance. "You know, I'm not really doing anything later so if you want to go _ow!_"

His dragon lifted his wing and let him fall to the ground, he fell face-first into the dirt. I grabbed Snotlout around the arms nonchalantly and lifted him to his feet without much effort. I'm used to heavy lifting and quite frankly, he wasn't that heavy.

"You all right?" I asked and dusted him off slightly. He pulled back and began to do it himself.

"Yeah, Hookfang's always doing that. Pig-headed dragon." He put his hands up on his hips. Hookfang gave him a glare from behind and set let out a small breath of flame on Snotlout's behind. I put a finger up and opened my mouth to say something but stopped when Snotlout laughed nervously and asked "Could you excuse me for a moment?"

"I don't see why not." I shrugged, dropping my hands to my sides then pulling them up to fold them in front of my chest.

"Okay. It'll just be a minute!" He ran to the dragon's water and sat in it with a relieved sigh as the cool water soothed his fresh burn. My shoulders began to shake as I was silently laughing.

Suddenly, I looked back up at the Nightmare that smirked at his rider as he continued to sink into the cool water. I held a hand out to the large dragon, he looked down at me, his gentle eyes staring at me endearingly. He lowered his head and placed his snout on my palm with a guttural purr coming from deep in his throat. I placed my other hand under his chin and rubbed at him, he continued purring and leaned into the touch.

"Oh, you're just wanting some tender loving. You're adorable." I said sweetly. I moved around and scratched at the back of his head, his eyes shut as he kept leaning into me. "So you like being scratched?"

He purred loudly in response, so I continuously scratched at him, much to his pleasure. I began to explore his neck more as I scratched at him until I suddenly moved my hands under his chin, his eyes widened and then he fell to the ground unconsious.

My eyes grew wide and my mouth fell open slightly. "Oh, my Gods. Oh, what did I do? What happened? I-I didn't mean to- oh, this is a disaster. Sorry, Hookfang. Oh, _no_." I placed my hands over my eyes then peered up and that's when I saw Snotlout coming back, he was rubbing his behind uncomfortably and attempting not to wince. "Listen, I am _so_ sorry about your dragon. I was just scratching his neck and he fainted."

Snotlout seemed a bit clueless then he nodded when I realized what I was talking about. "Oh, that happens to all dragons. You scratch their neck and they faint."

"Yeah but... say what?" I began quickly and worriedly then rose my brows up in confusion and shock at the end.

"Well, there are other ways to do things like this to them. Dragon nip, bending their horns..." He trailed off and looked clueless for a moment before flatly saying "That's all I know of."

"Hold on, what? What's dragon nip? And what do you mean 'bending horns'?" I asked.

I never heard of this 'dragon nip' and the 'bending horn' thing sounded a bit strange to me at first. How's a dragon supposed to enjoy having their horns bent?

"Dragon nip is this." He pulled long blades of grass from his satchel. I examined the grass closely and made sure that the image stuck in my mind, I might need that. "And to calm 'em down sometimes, you bend their horns to the ground. I think it only works for Nightmares, though."

"And I'm going to guess that you found that out the hard way?" I asked without meaning for it to come out as flatly and as sarcastically as it did. Luckily, he didn't notice.

"Well, that's not important." Snotlout said passively, blowing off the question and smirked at me. "How about a tour around Berk? I bet that you forgot about a lot of the stuff here so how about a recap? Just you and me."

"Thank you for the offer but I'm afraid that I'll have to refuse." I said. "I remember everything so far, you can even ask the others if you don't believe me."

"Well, how about lunch?"

"Just ate." I said flatly yet with a small smirk beginning to play at my lips until I forced it down. It's funny how easy it is to manipulate some people.

"How about a walk?"

"I'm kind of tired."

"Watch a sunset together?"

"I'll be busy but I'll see if I can make room in my schedual for you. Maybe I can delay a few things but we'll see. If I don't come, don't take it personally. I'm just a bit busy." I said sweetly. He nodded and gave a cheesy thumbs-up.

"Okay, so it's all good. See you when I see you." He waved. I gave a cocky smirk and walked away with a slight wave. When I turned around just to see what he was doing, he banged his head against the wall repeatedly calling himself "Stupid!"

So, now that that's over with, what do I do now? I'm going to hold back on approaching Astrid for a while longer, I think I want to try a bit more with the dragons. There's got to be more to learn about them than what I already know.

I mean, I learned plenty so far. I got to learn about the Night Furies further and I discovered that dragons are knocked unconsious if you scratch under their chin. And according to Snotlout, the Monstrous Nightmare can be calmed if you bend its horns. Then there was also the dragon nip which calms the dragons too, I'm a bit curious about more of this so I'm going to try and see what else I can learn.

Especially about that Night Fury. There's something about him that's just so alluring but I still have yet to find out what exactly this is. Speaking of the Night Fury, the book seemed to be lacking information, I should ask Hiccup about that.

I'll most likely take care of that tomorrow, though. I wasn't lying when I told Snotlout that I was tired.


	7. The Barely Known Shadow

**Iron-Mantis: I have a suspicion that the Berserkers and Outcasts have a sort of secret alliance so she most likely knows but the only way to find out is to read on. (And I know what you mean about the 'father' thing, I picked up on that too.)**

* * *

I got back into the Haddock house to meet with the black dragon that rested next to the fireplace and stared at the flames intently. When I walked in, he shifted his gaze to me briefly and there was a small spark in his eye before he looked back at the flame blankly.

I watched the dragon as I approached the fireplace and sat down on the opposite side of it. I looked up at Shadow through the smoke and flickering flames, he gazed at me briefly and back down at the fire. His back was slightly arched, which it wasn't before he noticed me come in. One paw was folded over the other, his head lying over them and his tail lied right next to his body, probably not to trip anyone even though as far as I saw, he was the only one that had been home.

"So..." I said, not wanting it to feel as awkward as it did. Shadow glanced up at me and waited for me to continue speaking. "You're the only one here?"

He shook his head.

"Oh, Hiccup and Toothless are upstairs?" I asked, thinking that I understood. He shook his head again. "Well, Stoic isn't here. Who else is?"

Shadow looked pointedly and me with a head gesture in my direction, he made a soft groan as if to say 'You.'

"_Oh_." I said, finally getting it. "So, it's just us then?"

He nodded.

"Ah, I see." I said awkwardly. I patted my legs and looked up at the ceiling, after only a short while, I yawned silently.

After yawning, I stretched out my arms and laid them on my lap. I leaned over them slightly and continued to stare at the Night Fury, he noticed and had obviously became slightly irritated. The way the scales over his eyes furrowed, the way his eyes narrowed and how he had tensed up were all solid evidence that he wasn't comortable with my staring.

He finally lifted his head up, ear plates laid against his head in irritation and let out a groan that almost sounded like he had asked "What?"

I said nothing and only waved to the dragon awkwardly, he rolled his eyes and laid his head back down. He shut his eyes to probably go to sleep, it was either that or to ignore my presence.

I slowly and quietly manuvered around the fireplace and reached over to pet his head, but at the last second, he shot his eyes open and his back arched up. I stumbled onto my back and scooted away slighty from the shock that followed, he watched me intently as I got up and dusted myself off.

I glanced over at him, his ear plates perked up slightly but lowered once again as he focused on me. I reached for him once again, he pulled back and narrowed his eyes. I took this as a sign for me to back off, so I did and bit my lip awkwardly after doing so.

"I never thanked you for saving me, did I?" I asked him. He shook his head and further pressed it down on his paws. "Oh, well... in that case, thank you very much, Shadow."

He perked his ears up and gave out a low trill, he shut his eyes and comfortably snuggled up into his paws to rest.

"Do you do this a lot? Hanging around in solitude?" I asked after a moment of silence. He eyed me curiously for a moment, he looked down almost sadly into the fire before shutting his eyes and nodding. "Do you mind if I ask why?"

He let out a long exhale, shifting his gaze between me and the fire, almost as if he was human and about to tell me why he behaved the way he did. I sat up straight, waiting for his response.

He shook his head with a deadpanned look.

"Oh." I said awkwardly, stumped for the moment. I reached a hand up to rub the back of my neck. "Uh, sorry."

Shadow blinked twice in response, nodded and looked back at the fire. I bit my lip from the awkwardness in the room, patting my legs for a short moment once again.

"So... you hungry?" I asked randomly. "I already ate today and I'm probably going to sleep through the next meal so if you want, I can give you the fish that I have. I'd like for you to have them."

That's all he needed to hear so he could sit up straight and he was just about wide awake. Shadow's eyes sparked up but he became serious once again, he looked at me skeptically and showed patience. He was waiting for the food.

"Okay, I'll get it for you." I said. I reached into my satchel and pulled out the two smoked fish that were left in it. I held one out to Shadow, "I know it's not much but it's something."

He sniffed the air around the fish and quickly scooted over closer to me, he nudged the fish with his nose and snatched the fish up in his jaws. He threw it into the air, bit it in half then swallowed the two halves of the fish with mere swallows. He stared at the other one hungrily.

In response to this, I gave a slowly spreading grin to him as I picked up the other fish and held it out for him. He was more confident in taking this one and gently took it from my hand, he ate this fish just as he'd done with the last one then licked his lips.

I gave an acknowledging nod until he narrowed his eyes slightly at me. I thought that he hadn't had his fill and that he was expecting more from me. He slowly stalked towards me.

I gulped and scooted back, "No, no. Please, no. I only had the two. I told you that it wasn't much but it was all I had." He stood directly in front of me.

I stiffened up, checking him up and down for anything he might have tried to do. Yet he didn't attack, but there was a hacking noise and a small lump began to rise inside of his throat until it fell in my lap. I began to relax, staring at him inquisitively. The Night Fury sat up straight and stared at me intently and expectantly. I took the fish in my hands and glanced up at the dragon. He made a head gesture for me to go on. I rose my brows up when I followed his line of sight shift between me and the fish.

He wanted me to eat it.

I had no problem doing so, though. I simply lifted it to my mouth, took a bite, chewed and swallowed with little to no hesitation. I nodded and grinned at Shadow, he did the same back and laid back down.

I went back to staring at the fire with him until I felt something tap me from behind. I looked around and saw his tail coil up next to his side quickly, he must have tapped me. I acted like nothing happened and waited to see if he'd do it again, and if so, then what was his timing?

When he had done it twice more, I knew when the next one was coming and was able to turn around before he touched me. I noticed him tense up and quickly slam his tail to the floor, his eyes had grown slightly wide but that was until he looked away so I couldn't see his face.

"Caught you!" I said to him, I heard him huff in response.

I wondered if I'd be able to pet him now and reached over to stroke his head but he sat up quickly and pulled back, his teeth were bared but he didn't growl. I pulled back this time without falling and this time, I pushed my hand out more slowly to him so he wasn't startled.

His irises grew as he stared at my hand, I kept eye contact with him whenever he glanced up at me. When my arm was as far out as it could go, he stared at it for another moment then sniffed the air around it.

I'd never felt this nervous or excited before, it was exhilerating.

He hesitated and finally pulled back, he swished his tail around once and laid on his stomach, he suddenly began to doze off like nothing had almost just happened. I stared at him with slight confusion, he almost let me pet him though so I guess that's progress.

I heard the door opened and looked towards it to see Hiccup walking in with Toothless and shutting the door behind him. He gave a grin in my direction and waved, "Hey there, Al. Anything interesting happen today?"

I looked over to Shadow, he gave a slow and acknowledging nod to me. I nodded to Hiccup, "Yep. I got to learn a bit about dragons, hung out with the other Viking teens without harming them and then there's this guy." I gestured to Shadow.

"What? What'd he do?" Hiccup asked as if I'd been hurt and knelt to me. Shadow gave him a look of disbelief from behind.

"No, he didn't do anything." I put my hands up in defense for the dragon. "I was just curious about him, is all. Do you mind telling me about his intellegence? I read that dragon book of yours and heard that they're one of the most intellegent of the known dragon species. Could I have some examples?"

"Oh, sure thing, Al." Hiccup said and sat down next to me. "Well, of course, he whittled with you on your first night here. He's very vocal, more so than a lot of other dragons. That's why he'll nod or shake his head, let out growls and whatnot to let you know if he approves or not. He also has a bit of a temper, you don't touch his food unless you want to end up like Gobber."

I remembered who Gobber was and hearing that made me chuckle a little. I grinned over at him, "Well, I can relate. If I'm not done eating and you touch my food, you just might end up with an injury."

Hiccup rose his brows up in amusement but didn't say anything. It only made my smile grow more until I thought about something.

"Pardon but I have a question about your book of dragons." I stated. Hiccup was caught off guard, sitting up straight and tilting his head curiously.

"Really? What's it about?"

"Well, the Night Fury page. I couldn't help but notice that there was some lacking information on the pages." I said.

He thought about it for a moment then slapped a hand to his forehead. "Great thunder of Thor. I _always_ forget."

"No, it's fine. I was just wondering about them and such." I said, putting my hands up in defense.

"Oh." He said awkwardly and cleared his throat. "Well, what is it that you want to know?"

"Well, just simple things about them that are probably important. Or unimportant, I'm fine with either." I said, shrugging slightly.

"Okay, well, they're about thirty-two feet long, have a fourty-eight foot wingspan and of course, as you saw, they can retract their teeth into their gums. You and I found that out the hard way." He laughed a little awkwardly at the end.

"Difference was, I got a warning." I said flatly yet grinning.

"Yep. Anyway, they mainly eat fish but they will eat other things like bread and _Shadow_," Hiccup said pointedly, making the dragon raise up his ear plates and look at him with curiosity and slight irritation, "Shadow eats pretty much anything but fish is his overall favorite."

The Night Fury let out what sounded like a sigh, shutting his eyes to go to sleep.

"Another thing and I don't want to say this out loud because they might freak." Hiccup said quietly and leaned in, making me lean back. "What are you doing? I'm trying to whisper to you."

My brows furrowed and rose up suspiciously, I stayed leaning back. He still seemed a bit confused until a look of shock came over his face, his cheeks turned a bit red.

"No, I wasn't trying to kiss you or anything." He said defensively. "I was trying to whisper to you because those two wouldn't like it if I brought up ee-" He put his hands over his mouth then whispered as quietly as he could, "Eels."

Shadow turned and growled, arching his back up. Toothless' head shot up and he looked in our direction.

"See?" He gestured. "I wanted to prevent that. So I didn't worry them or anything."

"Oops, sorry." I said sheepishly.

"It's fine, I probably should have taken how you felt about the personal space and all before I did that." He said, looking off to the side. He rubbed his elbow awkwardly. "Sorry."

"It's fine." I said.

It was silent and awkward. We glanced at each other occassionaly or around the room, or just staring out of the corners of our eyes. The dragons even felt how awkward things had gotten, considering that Shadow was still trying to go to sleep despite him looking so tense and Toothless shifted his gaze between Hiccup and I, his ear plates laid back and he was trying to look like he didn't know what was going on.

I did a fake yawn though I was actually tired, stretched out and stood up. "Boy, am I tired. You don't mind if I go up for a nap, do you?"

"No, not at all. Go right ahead. What's mine is yours." He said politely, a sheepish grin still on his face.

"Thank you, Hiccup. For everything." I grinned.

"Sweet dreams, Al."

"Sweet dreams, Hic."

I went upstairs and got snuggled up in bed, within mere minutes of shaking off the awkwardness, I was fast asleep.


End file.
